Arlene F. Marks's Blog
October 24, 2014
Love and Romance Fiction
I've always found it interesting that some things are generally considered to be romantic, while others, sharing many similar characteristics, are not.
What caused the Spanish Civil War to be infused with romance, for example, but not the struggle of the Contras in Central America?
Why were the voyages of Jacques Cousteau romantic, but not the equally important explorations of laboratory scientists around the world?
If love and hate are two sides of the same coin, why have we attached romantic significance only to love? Why isn't it romantic to come to hate someone?
I believe that in order for romance to exist, four factors must be present:
First is our human talent for perceiving wonderful possibilities behind every obstacle and in virtually every situation. It is to confirm the existence of these wonderful possibilities that we try new experiences, go exploring, take risks.
Second is the element of danger. Exploration must be hazardous, must involve personal jeopardy, in order to acquire the aura of romance.
No matter how valuable the prize, however, we would never brave the danger if it weren't for the third romantic factor -- the unshakable conviction that every one of those wonderful possibilities has our name written on it. Never mind how many have tried and failed before us -- they obviously made mistakes that we won't make, or tried to claim what was not rightfully theirs.
Finally, and most important, is the distancing effect of time and place. The here and now is not romantic. Someone in the midst of struggling to stay in one piece long enough to claim a prize would definitely not use the word 'romantic' to describe what he or she was experiencing....but years later (and especially if the quest was successful) his or her memories might be tinged with romance. To a listener or reader, the retelling of this adventure would almost certainly be romantic. In fact, the further away in time and space, the more romantic the story would be.
Falling in love, with its wonderful possibilities, high personal risk, and utter conviction that this relationship will beat the odds and succeed, is the quintessential romantic experience. That is probably why novels about love conquering all have come to be called romances.
Having said that, I must now say this: not every love story is a romance. As a first reader for Harlequin Romances/Presents, I had occasion to evaluate over 300 manuscript submissions, in batches of 8 to 10, and in each batch, without fail, I would find at least one that was clearly a love story...but not a romance.
The difference? Love can blossom anywhere, including a war zone or in the middle of a natural or human-caused disaster. It can happen to anyone, including people who are or are about to be permanently separated. Love can be doomed, unrequited, even downright depressing.
Romance, on the other hand, is a break from the kind of thing that's covered on the evening news. It's something that feels like reality but isn't. It's once upon a time and happily ever after. If the Brothers Grimm were still alive and collecting folk tales, they would have a field day in the Harlequin/Silhouette inventory, for these are modern-day fairy tales. Good and evil are well-defined. They may not wear crowns and live in castles, but the protagonists of a romance might as well be royalty. They're special. They're meant to be together. They have to overcome daunting obstacles (read: slay a few dragons) in order to end up together. Most important of all, they are fully deserving of the happiness they achieve in the end. Justice for all is a prime ingredient in popular fiction, probably because it so seldom occurs in real life.
Because romance is a genre of popular fiction, it is governed by a set of rules or 'conventions'. A convention is an unspoken agreement between the author and the reader. It says, "If you will read this book, I promise you three things. I promise first of all that you will feel good when you get to the end. You'll find a happy ending, with each of the characters getting just what s/he deserves. Second, I promise that you're going to like the main characters in this story. You're going to fall in love with one of them and wish the other were your best friend. And third, you're going to read about the development of a particular kind of human relationship – the growing love between two people. Whatever else there is in the story, this relationship will be at its heart."
My niece is a huge fan of romance. She attends reader appreciation events and devours each month's new releases. Her face lights up when she talks about her favourite authors. I'm going to keep her in mind as I plot my next book in the genre.
What caused the Spanish Civil War to be infused with romance, for example, but not the struggle of the Contras in Central America?
Why were the voyages of Jacques Cousteau romantic, but not the equally important explorations of laboratory scientists around the world?
If love and hate are two sides of the same coin, why have we attached romantic significance only to love? Why isn't it romantic to come to hate someone?
I believe that in order for romance to exist, four factors must be present:
First is our human talent for perceiving wonderful possibilities behind every obstacle and in virtually every situation. It is to confirm the existence of these wonderful possibilities that we try new experiences, go exploring, take risks.
Second is the element of danger. Exploration must be hazardous, must involve personal jeopardy, in order to acquire the aura of romance.
No matter how valuable the prize, however, we would never brave the danger if it weren't for the third romantic factor -- the unshakable conviction that every one of those wonderful possibilities has our name written on it. Never mind how many have tried and failed before us -- they obviously made mistakes that we won't make, or tried to claim what was not rightfully theirs.
Finally, and most important, is the distancing effect of time and place. The here and now is not romantic. Someone in the midst of struggling to stay in one piece long enough to claim a prize would definitely not use the word 'romantic' to describe what he or she was experiencing....but years later (and especially if the quest was successful) his or her memories might be tinged with romance. To a listener or reader, the retelling of this adventure would almost certainly be romantic. In fact, the further away in time and space, the more romantic the story would be.
Falling in love, with its wonderful possibilities, high personal risk, and utter conviction that this relationship will beat the odds and succeed, is the quintessential romantic experience. That is probably why novels about love conquering all have come to be called romances.
Having said that, I must now say this: not every love story is a romance. As a first reader for Harlequin Romances/Presents, I had occasion to evaluate over 300 manuscript submissions, in batches of 8 to 10, and in each batch, without fail, I would find at least one that was clearly a love story...but not a romance.
The difference? Love can blossom anywhere, including a war zone or in the middle of a natural or human-caused disaster. It can happen to anyone, including people who are or are about to be permanently separated. Love can be doomed, unrequited, even downright depressing.
Romance, on the other hand, is a break from the kind of thing that's covered on the evening news. It's something that feels like reality but isn't. It's once upon a time and happily ever after. If the Brothers Grimm were still alive and collecting folk tales, they would have a field day in the Harlequin/Silhouette inventory, for these are modern-day fairy tales. Good and evil are well-defined. They may not wear crowns and live in castles, but the protagonists of a romance might as well be royalty. They're special. They're meant to be together. They have to overcome daunting obstacles (read: slay a few dragons) in order to end up together. Most important of all, they are fully deserving of the happiness they achieve in the end. Justice for all is a prime ingredient in popular fiction, probably because it so seldom occurs in real life.
Because romance is a genre of popular fiction, it is governed by a set of rules or 'conventions'. A convention is an unspoken agreement between the author and the reader. It says, "If you will read this book, I promise you three things. I promise first of all that you will feel good when you get to the end. You'll find a happy ending, with each of the characters getting just what s/he deserves. Second, I promise that you're going to like the main characters in this story. You're going to fall in love with one of them and wish the other were your best friend. And third, you're going to read about the development of a particular kind of human relationship – the growing love between two people. Whatever else there is in the story, this relationship will be at its heart."
My niece is a huge fan of romance. She attends reader appreciation events and devours each month's new releases. Her face lights up when she talks about her favourite authors. I'm going to keep her in mind as I plot my next book in the genre.
